How do you feel about working in teams?
Some people prefer to work independently, and some prefer to work in a team.
At times, we don’t have a choice in working alone or with others. Whenever teamwork is required and not especially desired, harness the power of quotes to inspire you to embrace teamwork.
In this post, we will explore the pros and cons of teamwork and identify quotes that emphasize the positives of working in a team environment.
What are the pros and cons of working in teams?
When I taught dietetics students at Purdue about teamwork, we generated lists of the pros and cons of working in teams. As students, they had plenty of experience with team projects, often negative. My goal was to support positive teamwork and teach them how to be a productive team player.
The students’ lists of pros and cons were often much like those you can find with an internet search…
Pros of working in teams:
Synergy of team member's knowledge and skills
Gaps in knowledge and skill can be filled by other team members
Enhanced problem-solving capacity
Increased potential for creativity and ideation
Increased potential to accomplish complex tasks
Motivation and social support
Decreased burden or workload for each team member
Greater potential for spreading the word about the endeavor
Cons of working in teams:
Potential for conflicts over roles, responsibilities, leadership, goals, and more can be high
Difficulty in coordinating schedules
Unequal support for ideas, differences in motives
Procrastination and unequal participation of team members leads to unequal task burden
Miscommunication, poor communication, and a lack of communication are common
Lack of productivity
Blaming, mistrust, apathy, and other negative feelings can result
See this post for the characteristics of effective teams. When teams work well the pros far outweigh the cons. The goal is to achieve a high-functioning team and minimize the drawbacks. One approach is to harness the power of quotes and be inspired to embrace teamwork.
What quotes can inspire us to embrace teamwork?
The following quotes come from authors, athletes, inventors, business professionals, and more. Allow their words of inspiration to help you embrace teamwork.
Quotes that remind us what is required for teamwork to be successful.
“Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.” ~ Vince Lombardi, football coach
“Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” ~ Andrew Carnegie, industrialist and philanthropist
“Unity is strength… when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved.” ~ Mattie Stepanek, poet
“The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.”~ Babe Ruth, baseball hall of fame
“I’ve never scored a goal in my life without getting a pass from someone else.” ~ Abby Wambach, soccer player
“The secret is to gang up on the problem, rather than each other.” ~Thomas Stallkamp. author
“Don’t aspire to be the best on the team. Aspire to be the best for the team.” ~ Brian Tracy, motivational speaker
“A major reason capable people fail to advance is that they don’t work well with their colleagues.” ~ Lee Iacocca, automobile executive
“A boat doesn’t go forward if each one is rowing their own way.”~ Swahili Proverb
Quotes that remind us that effective teamwork has many benefits.
“Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than the one where they sprang up.” ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes, poet
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” ~ African Proverb
“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence with championships.” ~ Michael Jordan, NBA superstar
“Teamwork is the secret that makes common people achieve uncommon results.” ~ Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoho, author
“Great things in business are never done by one person; they’re done by a team of people.” ~ Steve Jobs, former CEO of Apple
“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.” ~ Helen Keller, author
Quotes that encourage us to embrace teamwork, possibly to even prefer it.
“None of us is as smart as all of us.” ~ Ken Blanchard, author and business professional
“A single arrow is easily broken, but not ten in a bundle.” ~ Proverb
“A single leaf working alone provides no shade.” ~ Chuck Page, politician
“The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.” ~ Phil Jackson, basketball player and coach
“I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot: together we can do great things.”~ Mother Teresa
“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” ~ Isacc Newton, astronomer
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” ~ Margaret Mead, anthropologist
Which quote will inspire you?
Which quote will inspire you? Where can you position it to serve you?
Check out this post for goal-setting ideas to embrace teamwork.
In this series, we explored the power of quotes to inspire us:
In our first post, we examined the reasons quotes can provide inspiration.
Our second post shared quotes to help us get started.
Our third post shared quotes that can inspire us to finish a task.
Our fourth post identified quotes to help us gain a positive perspective.
Our fifth post identified quotes to help us reignite our passion.
Our last post identified quotes that can help us feel more creative.
“I would rather have 1% of the efforts of 100 people than 100% of my own.” ~ Andrew Carnegie
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